When observing an unfamiliar neighborhood, people use indicators of physical disorder to judge the local community (i.e., community perception), associating them with crime and weak relationships between neighbors. The authors argue that these judgments depend on people’s definition of disorder, which is adapted to their local community. This is tested with an experiment. Undergraduate students from across New York State rated the collective efficacy (i.e., social quality) of neighborhoods from a single city using images of physical structures. Participants reported which features they attended to when making these judgments. Participants were categorized as being from New York City (NYC), NYC suburbs, or the less densely populated upstate region. Images were from an upstate city. Those from NYC attended more to pavement than others. Ratings by those from upstate were most accurate and positive. These results supported the initial hypotheses and suggested that community perception combines heuristics and familiarity to make inferences.